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A Tale of Two Title Roles. Dmae talks with two actresses at different times in their careers. We’ll meet actress Beth Thompson featured as Orlando at Profile Theatre and Kai Tomizawa, a 7th grader who is Junie B. Jones at Oregon Children’s Theatre. We’ll find out what it takes to be the title role for a working professional actress and a younger actress starting her career.

Beth Thompson (Orlando) is a performer, teacher and maker of new works. She was last seen in Profile’s In the Next Room… playing Annie. She is deeply grateful to Virginia, Vita and Sarah Ruhl for Orlando’s challenging, fluid, lovely Truth and the opportunity to play in it. Portland is Beth’s home and here she collaborates with Shaking the Tree Theatre, Many Hats Collaborations, The Forgery, Theatre Vertigo, Portland Playhouse, PCS’s JAW Festival, Action/Adventure, and Oregon Children’s Theatre. www.bethjthompson.com

Synopsis: Orlando, a young Englishman, sets out to encounter love and adventures with queens and kings, princesses and archdukes, historic poets and fictional sea captains. Riding waves that transcend time and space, Orlando transforms again and again. This epic tale of discovery, based on Virginia Woolf’s novel, crashes through the ages as a whimsical, gender-bending fantasy.

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Oregon Children’s Theatre presents Junie B. Jones: The Musical
—The popular book series hits the stage in a colorful, funny, and fast-paced musical.
Featuring Kai Tomizawa, a 7th grader at Beaumont Middle School in Portland in the role of Junie B. Jones. Read more about her: http://artslandiakids.com/the-lead-kai-tomizawa/

Written by: Based on the book series by Barbara Park. Book and lyrics by Marcy Heisler. Music by Zina Goldrich.

Synopsis: It’s Junie B.’s first day of first grade and a lot of things have changed for her: Junie’s friend Lucille doesn’t want to be her best pal anymore, and on the bus, Junie B. makes friends with Herb, the new kid at school. Also, Junie has trouble reading the blackboard and her teacher Mr. Scary thinks she may need glasses. Throw in a friendly cafeteria lady, a kickball tournament and a “Top-Secret Personal Beeswax Journal”, and first grade has never been more exciting.

About Oregon Children’s Theatre
Founded in 1988, Oregon Children’s Theatre has served well over two million children, teachers, and families. OCT is Oregon’s largest non-profit professional children’s theater company and a resident company of Portland’5 Centers for the Arts. Performances are held weekdays for school audiences and on weekends for family audiences. OCT serves more than 120,000 children of all ages each year. OCT offers numerous school services including study guides, teacher professional development opportunities, in-school workshops, and an extensive outreach program. In partnership with Kaiser Permanente, the Educational Theatre Program provides free touring productions that promote healthy living. OCT’s year round Acting Academy offers theater classes for children ages 3-18 and Young Professionals, a mentoring program for teens.